Damage Control
by Redd Summers
Summary: Set after the end of "Gone," Buffy has some damage control to do from her vanishing act. Good for B/S fans, this is my first Buffy story, don't kill me ;-;


Title: Damage Control  
  
Author: Redd Summers (ReddSummers@yahoo.com)  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: Set after the end of "Gone," Buffy has some damage control to do from her vanishing act.  
  
Spoilers: Anything's up for grabs, people. I don't intentionally put spoilers in, but be warned that they may show up. The whole 6 seasons thus far. You have been warned.  
  
Feedback: Constructive. I welcome comments as well as criticism, don't be shy, just don't be rough. Let's keep it all huggs and puppies.  
  
Distribution: Want? ASK. Take. Have. I don't mind this being reposted somewhere else, but I do want to know where it's at. And I must be properly credited.  
  
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters associated within the show were created by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and FOX. Any resemblance to persons either living or undead is strictly unintentional.  
  
  
  
  
  
---------------------------------Damage Control----------------------------- ----  
  
  
  
  
  
Buffy entered the house first, Willow following behind still dragging her feet from all her walking over the last twelve hours. The lights were sparse, signaling that the only other occupant of the house had gone to bed. Tossing her keys to the small stand by the door, Buffy closed and locked the large door and flicked the switch to turn on the hallway lights. "You go on to bed, Will. You more than deserve some rest."  
  
  
  
"Are you sure? I mean, Dawn..." her redheaded friend started, but trailed off at the mention of Buffy's sister. A sister only the previous night she had nearly killed.  
  
  
  
As she noticed the misty look in her best friends eyes, Buffy quickly spoke up with a smile. "Don't worry, Willow. Dawn will be fine, she just needs some time to get over everything. She knows you love her and I'm positive she will forgive what happened in time. Until then, I'm proud of you for everything you did for me tonight. You know, manually not magically. Now go upstairs and go to bed before your feet fall off due to overuse." With that, she pushed the former witch towards the stairs softly.  
  
  
  
With a sigh of resignment, Willow started to trudge up to her bedroom. "Goodnight, Buffy."  
  
  
  
"Goodnight, Will."  
  
  
  
Buffy entered the kitchen and found the pizza box still on the kitchen island. Between her day and her stomach, Buffy sighed lightly and placed the remaining pizza back into the refrigerator. Definitely not registering on the "hunger" meter tonight, she thought. After a few moments of quick mental preparation, she walked back out of the kitchen, into the hallway, and kept going until she was just outside Dawn's room. She knocked slightly, hoping she wasn't waking her up. She glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was a little after midnight. When she didn't get an answer, she paused while she tried to decide whether or not to knock again and possibly wake the already pissed off girl up, or just to wait until the morning.  
  
  
  
Buffy was never one for waiting.  
  
  
  
She knocked again, this time slightly louder, and called out softly "Dawnie? You awake?" She waited for a response, anything, but there was none. Buffy grabbed at the door knob, going to just walk in on her, but she stopped just short of barging in. Maybe she was over reacting and Dawn was sound asleep. It was a school night, maybe it was better for her to sleep it off and they could talk it out in the morning before school. Ms. Kroger had noticed Dawn's tardiness, and though she had gotten that woman off her back and another stab at an interview, hopefully with more positive results, she was right when she said that things should be in Dawn's best interest. And Dawn should get her rest before tackling school early in the morning.  
  
  
  
No. This is just what they wanted, for her to start second guessing herself. She could take care of Dawn when -- and only when -- they were taking care of each other. And right now, she needed her to be safe. Physically as well as emotionally. She took a deep breath and turned the knob while starting to walk into her room. Instead, she misjudged the door and walked into it when it didn't open. Rubbing her temple where she hit, she stifled her instinct to curse, and looked annoyed as she realized her sister had locked her out.  
  
  
  
Dawn... why do you make this so hard for me? she thought to herself. "Dawnie, Open up. I need to talk to you," she called as she wrapped on the door for a third time. When there was no answer still, she grew very frustrated with her sister's silence and decided to go on and enter. She got a firm grip on the knob and pushed with the strength of the Slayer until the lock simply popped out of the frame. Only minimal wood damage to mess with tomorrow, she thought idly as she stepped into the young girls' room.  
  
  
  
Her first realization was bad. She was gone. She didn't even try to hide the fact she was gone, her room lay dormant and lifeless, the curtain blowing softly in the open window. So she really does pay attention to me... good one, Buffy. You've taught your kid sister how to sneak out of the house. Her sarcastic thoughts were the onset of the fear for her sister. She was out in Sunnydale, that a few knew better as the Hellmouth which attracted vampires and other demons of all kinds. Demons who knew the Slayer... and her sister. Demons who had scores to settle. Her fifteen year old sister with a broken arm was in danger out there alone.  
  
  
  
"WILLOW!" she heard her scream before she even realized it. Her blood pounded in her ears and her breathing staggered. She heard the pounding of racing feet coming closer, nearing the room with incredible speed.  
  
  
  
"Buffy?" she called as she entered the dark room. "Oh my God, where's Dawn?"  
  
  
  
"Seems like she was even more upset than I guessed. Judging by the fact her windows open, she snuck out when we were gone."  
  
  
  
"But why? I mean, we weren't here. If she wanted to leave, she could just have walked out the door."  
  
  
  
"Because of my invisibility... she didn't know if I was around watching her. Oh God, Willow, I drove her away!" Buffy gasped as realization hit her like a brick falling from the sky.  
  
  
  
Willow looked seriously at Buffy, her eyes hard. "Buffy, don't say that. You didn't know she would bail. Don't blame yourself."  
  
  
  
Buffy's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she faced Willow. "But it is. When she came home, all I did was make jokes while she freaked. I shouldn't have been so flighty." Her expression suddenly changed into a familiar set face of determination. "I have to find her, she's in danger."  
  
  
  
Willow tried to be supportive, but she needed Buffy to calm down before going to look for her sister. She knew the dangers of the Hellmouth just as well as Buffy herself, but having a Slayer looking for her sister while in a half crazed mindset wasn't something that would produce anything positive. "All right," Willow said calmly "I'll call Xander's and you can-- " She was cut off by the shrill dual tone ring of the phone.  
  
  
  
Both girls paused in the room, waiting to see if it would ring again. When it did, they both made a mad dash for the nearest extension, just down the hall in Willow's room. Buffy reached it first and grabbed it and instantly answered with "Dawn?"  
  
  
  
"Slayer. You need to come to my crypt. Now." She recognized the English accented male voice on the other line and anger over clouded everything she was feeling just a split second ago.  
  
  
  
"Spike? What the hell --?"  
  
  
  
"Will you just bloody listen to me this time? Get over here and make it quick." With that, the other line went dead.  
  
  
  
Buffy looked at the phone, as if it would magically tell her what he wanted her for at his crypt, but knew it was useless. She replaced the receiver and calmed her anger down before turning to her friend. If Spike was going to waste her time when Dawn was out there all alone... "Willow," she said seriously "I need you to stay here. In case Dawn comes back. I'm going to Spike's, he just called and told me to come over there, I'm thinking that's where she's at. Call Xander and Anya just in case she went over to their apartment. If not those two places, then I'll make my way over every inch of Sunnydale until I find her. "  
  
  
  
She left the room and bounded down the stairs. Willow remained at the top of the banister and watched as Buffy pulled on her coat she had recently discarded.  
  
  
  
"And if she isn't at Spikes?"  
  
  
  
Buffy's face was hard as steel as she picked up a wooden stake and slipped it into her coat pocket. "There'll be one less vampire in Sunnydale to waste my time." With that, she walked out of the door and shut it hard behind her.  
  
  
  
Willow made a break to the phone to call Xander and Anya, hoping slightly that Dawn really was at Spike's. Even though she knew he and Buffy had gotten closer since she was resurrected -- just how close, she didn't know -- Willow believed that still wouldn't stop her from using that stake if Spike was wasting her time when Dawn's missing. She punched in the digits and waited for an answer.  
  
  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
  
  
She entered the cemetery grounds that she had left just a few hours ago. Last time was for pleasure, this time it's for work. She didn't have time to waste, she had to find Dawn before anything happened to her, and before those annoying Social Services people found out that she lost her sister. And Spike? If this was some lame stunt to get her back to his place after kicking her out, well, she would deal with that problem if it presented itself. For now, she was just looking out for her sister.  
  
  
  
She crossed into the familiar part of the cemetery, she could see his crypt already in the short distance. With a deep sigh, she forced herself to be prepared for anything Spike had to show her. It just better be worth her time, or he'd be living in a new and posh vacuum cleaner courtesy of the local Sunnydale Slayer.  
  
  
  
As she neared his crypt, she spotted Spike perched up on a nearby tombstone. He seemed to be keeping an eye on his crypt from the distance, while still being outside, waiting for something. No, scratch that. I know he's waiting for me. As if on cue to her thoughts, Spike looked over in the direction she was approaching from and saw her. He quickly jumped from the cold slab and landed softly on the ground below, waiting for Buffy to approach him further.  
  
  
  
She walked over to him with a very annoyed face. "Spike," she said showing her short temper. "If this is something stupid, I'm personally going to introduce you to Mr. Pointy and let you two get aquatinted."  
  
  
  
He saw her non-whimsical mood as a total polar opposite from what she had shown him hours before. Namely warmth and, although they tore his place up fighting, a little bit of happiness for being with him. But he had an idea why she was in such a foul mood, and he decided it was best to get right to the point. "Right, then, well, this is it. Come follow me, love."  
  
  
  
He stealthily walked back to the entrance of his crypt, neither he nor Buffy made a single sound in the process. She could tell the door to the place was still slightly ajar and wondered what in hell was going on. She almost asked him what just that when he silenced her before she even muttered the first vowel sound with his fingers against her mouth. He cocked his head towards the door telling her to take a silent peek inside. She rolled her eyes at him and then did as directed. She peered into the candlelit room to see a figure sitting against the far wall, staring out into blank space. She recognized her immediately and actually wanted to thank Spike for finding her. But her excitement didn't last very long when it was replaced with the realization that Dawn's body might be sitting in Spike's home, but her mind was somewhere else. Not a good, she thought.  
  
  
  
She took Spike's hand off her mouth and led him back to the tombstone he was on before, both moving as quietly as before. Once out of earshot, though, Buffy guessed it wouldn't have mattered much if they were talking right over her distant sibling, she looked questionably at Spike. "So spill. What's the deal?"  
  
  
  
Spike shrugged his black clad shoulders with an expression the Slayer couldn't interpret. "Don't really know myself. The Bit just walked in and sat down a while ago. She was so quiet, I didn't even notice at first, and trust me, love, that's hard to accomplish with her. I tried talking to her, asking her what was wrong and why she was at my crypt so late at night and what all, but she never answered me. Just kept staring off into bleeding space while I made a ponce of myself trying to get any reaction at all. Only thing I could figure was that she was either practicing for a role of a coma patient on a soap or she was highly pissed at someone she loved. And seeing as how you had your little invisible fun day at a lot of other people's expenses, I'm placing all my money on the latter of the two options."  
  
  
  
Buffy couldn't look into his eyes, because he was -- as usual -- right and being brutally honest about it. She could feel his gaze burning into her, but she couldn't face him. Is this all about Dawn, or is it something more? I knew he was upset with me before, but... did I really hurt him? I didn't think something so silly could upset him so badly. And, as usual, there's something wrong with Buffy. Fix one friend and two others break. Her thoughts were raging through her mind, she felt as if she were drowning in self abuse. How could she be so blind? She had scared her sister half to death with her stupid jokes and care free attitude and possibly destroyed someone else she thought was infallible.  
  
  
  
"I'm sorry," she said in such a small voice even she didn't know she had. She had a lot more to say, but she didn't even know where to begin.  
  
  
  
Spike just kept the same indescribable facial expression plastered to his face. "Yeah, well, I'm not the one you should be talking to first, pet."  
  
  
  
Buffy looked up in understanding and took a deep breath before turning back to his crypt. Her mind was reeling from the speed at what she thought. There was so many things she needed to tell both of them, but she didn't know where to even begin. First she had to snap Dawn out of her trance, then she had to face the pain of letting her sister take out everything she was feeling on her. She stepped into the crypt, quietly, but still making enough noise to alert Dawn someone was with her. She walked slowly towards her sister, still staring off into nothing. Once she sat down next to her and looked at her directly, her heart broke.  
  
  
  
Dawn had obviously been crying for hours, until the tears couldn't come anymore. She had seen her expression before, when their mother had died. That time had been terribly traumatizing for the young Summers girl, finding out she wasn't a real girl, just a key for an insane hell god to use to destroy the world only a few weeks before hand of their mother's death dealt a mental blow with which she didn't know how to cope. But Buffy telling, and proving, that she was really a sister to her, and Joyce loving her as a true daughter had helped her through that tough time. And then, Joyce was gone one afternoon. Buffy tried to deal with the pain alone, shutting everyone out. Including Dawn. Dawn tried to deal by using magic to bring their mother back. In the end, both girls dealt with the pain together, crying in each others' arms for comfort. The expression of total loss and feelings of solitude had clouded back over her little sister's features. Tears welled in her eyes.  
  
  
  
"Dawn? I'm here," Buffy said, trying to hold back from losing her control over her tears. "Speak to me?"  
  
  
  
Dawn remained motionless for a moment, but then parted her lips in a whisper. "Buffy...? I can't see you..."  
  
  
  
Buffy moved into her sisters' field of vision and took her hands. They were cold and clammy to the touch. "I'm right here, sis. Dawn... I'm so sorry for what happened. You were right, I should have been working with Xander and Willow trying to figure out how to get back to normal. It was childish and stupid of me to think I could just joke around with everything and not freak out those I loved."  
  
  
  
Dawn's eyes started to move, as if searching for something. Finally, Buffy realized, she was looking at Buffy's features. Understanding that she was visible again. Dawn snapped her eyes all around, taking in her surroundings, and then back to Buffy. Almost as if to make sure she was still there as well. "Buffy? You're visible again!" she said in shock.  
  
  
  
"Yeah. Willow saved my life actually, and I got zapped back to normal view just about an hour ago. Dawn, you have no idea how sorry I am. I freaked you out with the pizza and attitude, I didn't even think for a second about how you would feel. But I think it's been pounded into me now, and I have a lot of apologizing to do."  
  
  
  
"Buffy," Dawn said as fresh tears welled in her eyes again. "I wasn't freaked out about the pizza or by the jokes. I was freaking out because I thought I'd lost you. Again. And you didn't seem to even care!"  
  
  
  
Buffy wrapped her arms around her sister, pulling her close as both girls started crying to each other. "Oh God, I didn't even think about that. I'm so, so sorry, Dawnie! No wonder you took off..."  
  
  
  
Dawn clutched her sister protectively, not wanting to let her go in case she might fade again. "It's everything, Buffy. Willow, and the Social Services people...? Everyone's trying to take me away from you and I can't let that happen! I lost you once because of the world, I won't let the world take you away from me again. But when you came home, and didn't seem to care you might never get visible again, that scared me. It's like you were going away from me after I had lost you before and you didn't care!"  
  
  
  
Buffy just cried, she knew Dawn was right. She'd been too stupid to think of how Dawn might preceive things, and now she was learning everything. She'd traumatized her sister just as her previous death and the death of their mom. She knew how close she and Spike had gotten over the summer of her death, no wonder she came to him during this time. She felt like her sister was dead all over again and she had simply started to shut down.  
  
  
  
"Dawn, I promise that you will never lose me again. I won't let anyone take you from me, I swear. You remember Ms. Kroger? Well, our interview didn't go so hot, but I managed to get another interview by someone else later while I was invisible. So see? I've already taken care of that problem, she won't be back. I've already screwed up on the whole Willow and Magic thing, I can't fix what happened but I can swear she won't harm you ever again," Buffy said, hoping to calm her down.  
  
  
  
Dawn moved away from her sister just enough to face her. "But you acted like you didn't care."  
  
  
  
Buffy glanced down, guilt creeping across her heart. "I didn't, at the time. I felt free of worries and stress... It was euphoric." Buffy looked back into her sister's eyes so she would get the full impact of her next words. "But I abused it, Dawn. I hurt you and others during the day, and I can't tell you how sorry I truly feel. What happened was an accident, but instead of trying to fix it, I just let it go thinking I'd eventually get turned back to normal, someone else would fix the problem. I got a message from Xander after you left the room about an orange cone that was hit with the same thing I got hit by, and it was disintegrating. Dawn, I actually got scared. Not scared because I didn't know where I'd be going once I faded away completely, but because I was going to die. Because I was going to be leaving you again."  
  
  
  
Dawn looked shocked and scared, but Buffy had to continue, to get everything out. "I don't want to die, Dawn. No matter if I was pulled out of Heaven or not, I don't want to leave you again. When Willow and I got home tonight and I found you missing, it was my turn to freak out. Thank goodness your safe." She swiped the last of her tears off Dawns tired face and embraced her again. This time, the embrace was returned and nothing but silence filled the air. After a few long, touching moments, they let go and smiled at each other.  
  
  
  
"Buffy, you have to promise. No more invisibility. If it happens again, warn me?" Dawn tried to sound totally cool, but she knew her sister would have to take some time to get over this horrible day.  
  
  
  
Buffy smiled back. "Of course. Trust me, after the day I had, I can guarantee that I won't be standing at the front of the line for the invisibility chip any time soon." She could tell that Dawn was considerably better, so that just left one other person she needed to talk too. "Dawnie, will you be all right here for a little bit? I have to talk to Spike. About today."  
  
  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine here. Where'd he go, anyway?"  
  
  
  
"Apparently he called me from a pay phone to tell me you were here when he couldn't get you to talk to him. He said he tried to talk for a little bit, but you never responded."  
  
  
  
Dawn looked kind of ashamed. "Tell him I'm sorry for that, I didn't even realize I was here until you came by."  
  
  
  
Buffy nodded and stood up. "There's some cokes in the refrigerator over there if you're thirsty, just make sure not to mix it up with his blood stash. I don't want you getting too experimental," she said as she walked back into the fresh night air.  
  
  
  
Dawn looked a bit confused. How would Buffy know what was in his refrigerator?  
  
  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
Outside, the air was cool and crisp for a place commonly referred to as "Sunny California." She found Spike sitting back on the same tombstone she had left him by before, smoking a cigarette, his platinum hair illuminated by the full moon. He kept his back to her and the crypt, eyes looking up at the stars. She made no attempt to sneak up on him, so she was positive he knew she was there. He took a drag off the cigarette, the lit end flashing a deep crimson before dulling out again against the night. He blew the smoke out slowly from his lips before tossing the remains to the ground below. Buffy stepped around to face him, standing on top of the grave of some stranger. She stepped on the cigarette stub, making sure no fire would be started. He still kept his eyes to the stars.  
  
"Spike," Buffy began softly "It's time to talk. Look, I really screwed up today."  
  
"I'd imagine," he said suddenly, his eyes falling to hers.  
  
Buffy nodded slightly. "I deserved that. Look, about today. What happened, how I treated you--"  
  
"Forgiven," he interrupted.  
  
Buffy just looked confused. "Huh?"  
  
Spike brushed off the leaves lying on the other side of the rectangular boxed stone and signaled for her to have a seat next to him. She did and she looked up to the same star-filled sky he had been so interested in just moments before.  
  
"You came out here to tell me how sorry you were. How you messed up a lot of things today, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"And how you didn't really think about others' reactions, right? Complete capriciousness, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I know how hard it is to go through that twice in the same night, so you can skip it all this time and just take my word when I say I forgive you."  
  
As his eyes went back up towards the stars, she smiled a little bit. "You were listening?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"How much did you hear?"  
  
"Every word."  
  
After a few moments, she couldn't help but start laughing a little. "You never cease to amaze me. There I was, trying to patch up things with my little sister. Supposedly a private conversation to find out you were listening in on us."  
  
"Hey," he said in a clearly fake hurt tone "You forget who's bloody home this is. You know, I've always found that funny. My lot has to be invited in to 'normal' peoples' homes. But you? You and your Scooby gang just come on into my home -- located in a graveyard, no less -- whenever you damn well please. Now where's the sense in that? Like I told you before, Slayer. It's hard to get a good night's death around here."  
  
"Spike," she said, her tone noticeably different. "I'm sorry. Really. You were right about things earlier, I was here just because I wasn't. Because I just wanted to have fun. But I really hurt you, didn't I?"  
  
"I told you, love, everything's forgiven."  
  
"No, it's not," she took a deep sigh as she tried to think of how to word this right. "Spike, I used you today and you're willing to forgive my actions without even letting me apologize? Sooner or later I have to grow up, you know, and take responsibility for what I do. I hurt you tonight as well as Dawn, I almost totally screwed up so two important people in my life nearly left me. Dawn thought I left her, so she ran away. I used your feelings for my own and you kicked me out. I've done some horrible things, I'm not proud of them, but I need to face up to them. When it all boils down to it, I hurt you. Abused your feelings for me. And I'm sorry..."  
  
Silence hung heavy in the chilly night air. Buffy focused her gaze on Spike's face, but he seemed to remain immobile against his fixation on the stars. His high cheekbones dropped shadows on the sides of his face that made him look very evil, but she knew he was not the same evil that he once was. She looked away when he didn't respond after a few moments.  
  
"I'm important to you?" he asked, this time his voice was the quiet one.  
  
Her heart nearly broke at his question, this was simply too much. "Yeah. Spike, I'm not stupid, I know there's something between us. I wouldn't have slept with you if there wasn't, but... like I said, everything's confusing to me right now. I don't know what's going to happen, and that kind of scares me. Until I can get things under control, I won't be able to figure anything out."  
  
Spike's eyes broke away from his starry treasures and found Buffy's gaze again, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek. He brought his lips down to hers and kissed her softly. Buffy returned the kiss, sweet and slow, unlike the fiery ones they had shared earlier. She pulled away only slightly as he did and opened her eyes to look into his again.  
  
"I can wait," he whispered just enough for her to pick it up. He placed another kiss on her cheek and let her go as he heard a small beep go off.  
  
Buffy looked at the watch she had stuffed into her jacket earlier and rolled her eyes when she saw it was now 1 a.m. "I have to get Dawn home. She has school in the morning."  
  
Spike smiled this time. "Saved by the bell this time, eh, Slayer?" His tone had regained the cockiness he usually had.  
  
Buffy just rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "Yeah right. Besides, if Dawn's late or absent anymore, I don't think the Social Services people will be too happy. She's missed a lot of school in the last year."  
  
"Well, having a bitch god make you drive across the middle of nowhere with your friends just to escape her and have that not work out at all so you get captured by her at the last possible moment and make you open an apocalypse almost bringing on the destruction of all the different realities just so she can get back home does tend to make one shy away from algebra."  
  
Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I can just see them believing me about that one. Sometime after they lock me away in a room with nice white padded walls. Face it, the government isn't interested in the mystical." She hopped off the tombstone and looked back at Spike. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"I mean about everything. The whole Glory issue, the whole Heaven deal, today, just... everything."  
  
"Like I said, love. No problem."  
  
  
  
The End 


End file.
